Sunshine&Thunder
by alternativeninja
Summary: Lost from the group, Zell is worn down and close to breaking point. Can Selphie handle it? Perhaps the storm in the night will help to clear the air...


****A/N: So this is my fanfic :P well my first one since I grew up a bit, the last one I wrote I think I was 13... it was slightly awful. So anyways, I'd appreciate it if you rate&review, let me know what you think, anything I can work on... yeah :) enjoy!****

**Sunshine&Thunder**

The rain lashes down, pouring freely from the ever-darkening sky, but that doesn't matter. He has his own little slice of sunshine right beside him. He turns to look at her, smiling as he takes in her lemon yellow dress and her bright smile and her shining brunette curls and her sparkling emerald eyes. His smile grows wider and his breath catches in his throat as he looks at those eyes, watching as they somehow manage to light up the small cave all on their own.

Not that she notices him staring. She is entranced by the falling rain, awe and wonder illuminated clearly on her face as a fork of lightning lights up the world. She is oblivious to him, and his feelings, but that's okay. She'll never feel the same way about him, and he's fine with that. Really. He is.

Pushing his thoughts away, he leans over and ruffles her hair, laughing as she ducks out of his reach and bats him playfully away. She giggles and smiles at him, and he feels himself getting pulled into the depths of those sparkling green eyes. Then he turns away to face the mouth of the cave, his smile fading as he looks out on to the stormy night. He sighs and buries his head in his hands, reliving the events of the past 24 hours.

He jumps when he feels a light touch on his shoulder. "Hey, Zell?" the seventeen year old whispers. "What's up?"

Zell raises his gaze to meet hers, running a hand through his blond hair. "Selphie... I – I'm scared," he confesses, feeling himself begin to break down. "I don't know where we are or how to get home and I don't know what happened to the others and I don't know if they're okay and – and –" _And I love you. _Why can't he say it? He shakes his head and sighs again.

"We'll be fine!" Selphie smiled brightly at him.

There it was. That cheeriness that always kept him going, that always restored his faith. That endless optimism that always made him sure everything would work out in the end.

But not this time. This time something gives way inside him. "Dammit Selphie! We are not going to be fine! We're going to be anything but fine! We're lost, we don't have any food, and the others –" his words caught in his throat as the thought crossed his mind "– the others could be dead, Selphie! WE RAN AWAY! We left them to save ourselves! Do you know what that makes us? It makes us COWARDS!" He bellows the last word and the sound of it echoes as it bounces of the blank cave walls. He pounds the ground with his fist, leaving a large dent in the soft ground and sending tremors around the cave. Breathing heavily from his outburst, he turns his head to face his companion.

He regrets his words instantly.

Shock and anguish are painted on her face. Her whole posture changes as she shrinks back from him. What hits him the most are her eyes. The sparkle has disappeared, only to be replaced by what looks like fear. He opens his mouth to apologise, to say anything, to take back his words, but his mouth has gone dry. She's looking at him like she doesn't recognise him anymore, like she's scared. _Of what? _He wonders for a second, and then he realises that terrified look is for him only. He shuts his eyes. He doesn't want to see this.

Shit. He'd lost it. He'd snapped. He never snapped. He got riled up, sure, but he never let his emotions get the better of him. Not since the last time he had, when he'd put a kid in hospital. Now he was older, stronger. He could do a lot more damage now. He had to be careful. So he hid behind a mask, had fun, never let his serious side reveal itself. It was only at times like this that the cracks in his mask began to show.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He didn't want to hurt Selphie – at least, anymore than he already had. Forcing himself to open his eyes, he notices that Selphie had mirrored his earlier movements. Her eyes were closed.

"Sel..." he whispers gently. _Sure, be gentle now_, he thinks as he mentally slaps himself.

Her eyes flutter open. Green fire burns on blue as their eyes meet for a moment, and Zell feels relief wash over him as that look of terror melts away. She lifts her hand – he flinches involuntarily, but relaxes as her small fingers close over his fist, still half embedded in the ground of the cave. "Zell, I know you're worried," she says in a low voice, "but the others will be fine. Squall's a survivor and he'll make sure everyone gets out okay. Besides, he's hardly gonna leave Rinoa, is he?" Zell smirks as he thinks of the moody SeeD leader's obvious infatuation with the princess. "Quistis and Irvine will be fine too, they're strong."

_Yeah, I'm the weak one, _Zell thinks. But he knows there is truth in what Selphie is saying. The others _will _be okay; he's sure of that now. He smiles as he feels an invisible weight being pulled off his chest. Funny how he never noticed it was there, 'cause he sure feels a hell of a lot better now it's gone. Selphie is _always_ right.

He smiles weakly at her, and when she smiles back he feels a much different kind of pressure on his chest. Carefully, he slowly shifts closer to her and tentatively places on arm around her shoulder. He sighs, relieved, when she relaxes into him and pulls her into a bone-shattering hug as he loses himself in the smell of her hair. He can't help himself.

"Oww! Gerrof!" She laughs as she tries to loosen his grip.

"Sorry," he chuckles, releasing her into a more comfortable embrace. "And I'm sorry I yelled," he says, suddenly serious. "I was just –"

"Worried. I know," she sighs against him. "I had to get you out of there. You would have died otherwise, and I... I couldn't live with that. But since you came around I could feel all your tension a mile off. You were close to a breakdown, it was obvious."

_She knows me inside out, _he thinks. That knowledge both terrifies him and makes his heart do somersaults. He presses his lips to her hair, enjoying being able to hold her in his arms and the fluttering sensation he feels in his stomach. She's his best friend. Hell, she's more than that. She's everything.

"I guess I could be spending the night with worse people," she jokes, bringing him out of his reverie.

"Hey! You couldn't be lost in the wilderness with a better person!" he grins. "There's no one I would rather be lost with than you," he says honestly.

Selphie pulls back out of the hug a little and looks up at him with a questioning look on her face. Looking into her eyes, in that moment, he knows he loves this bright sunny girl so goddamn much there isn't a thing he won't do for her. He's not just holding her, he's holding on to her. She keeps him on this earth, she keeps him alive. He needs her.

And it's painted painfully clearly on his face for all to see, for Selphie to see. She sees, and she finally understands. She reaches up towards him, and when their lips meet, Zell swears he's flying. He's never ever felt like this before, but he's wants to feel like this everyday for the rest of his life. They pull apart, both smiling.

"Zelly?" she whispers softly, not taking her eyes off his for even a second.

"Yeah?" he replies, equally as soft.

"I – I love you."

"I love you too, Sel." _Always have. Always will._

The rain lashes down, pouring freely from the ever-darkening sky, but that doesn't matter. He has his own little slice of sunshine right beside him.


End file.
